


you left the deepest mark

by starlightvelaris



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura is Shiro's favourite co-star and friend, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Camping, F/M, Keith & Shiro (Voltron) are Childhood Friends, Keith (Voltron) is a college student, M/M, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Shiro is an A-list actor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-24
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-10-15 15:17:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 16,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17531204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlightvelaris/pseuds/starlightvelaris
Summary: Shiro and Keith are childhood best friends who keep in touch even after Keith moves away.Thirteen years later, Shiro and Keith's friendship is changing.[Rated Teen for swearing]





	1. letting you go

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys!  
> I hope you will like this fic! The title of the fic comes from [this](http://afadthatlastsforever.tumblr.com/post/140351999662/i-see-now-that-meant-to-be-doesnt-mean-forever) post (The Legacy by Beau Taplin). This is my first multi-chapter fic, my native language is not English, and I've got no beta. The rating is Teen for swearing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is from the song 'Boomerang' by Imagine Dragons.

_Thirteen years ago…_

Shiro wanted to cry as he watched the car leave him behind, but if he started, he didn’t know when he would stop. Keith’s family was moving and he was losing his best friend. He knew they would stay in touch, he knew that Keith knew by heart his family’s landline number, but he still worried that Keith would forget about him. After all, Keith was moving to California and he would make new friends for sure. What if he forgot about Shiro?

He promised to himself to call Keith every week, as soon as he got his family’s new landline phone number. He would not lose contact with his best friend in the whole world.

* * *

_Today…_

Keith was going to die. He hated his life, he hated university, he hated his friends, he hated everything. The only thing that could make this friday better was an epic drink-a-thon at his favourite pub, The Black Lion. Well, at least until he woke up with one of the epic hangovers that usually followed his drink-a-thons. But that didn’t matter at the moment, he would deal with it tomorrow.

His groaning was interrupted by the sound of Takashi’s ringtone ‘ _Kings_ ’ by Tribe Society. His best friend (and not-so-secret crush) had his own ringtone, ever since he got his first cellphone, almost ten years before. He had grown up and changed since then, but his friendship with Takashi was still one of his constants. Maintaining a long-distance friendship hadn’t been easy, but they had managed it until now. Keith was almost done with junior year of college, he had made new friends in his classes, and he had organized a camping trip with them as soon as finals were over.

Still, professor Slav’s Statistic classes and exams were the worst, and he wasn’t feeling ready at all for the final exam. Realizing that his smartphone was still ringing, Keith finally answered. His first words to Takashi weren’t understandable, but he understood anyways. They had been friends too long not to understand.

“That bad, huh?” laughed Takashi. The asshole knew perfectly well that Keith hated prof. Slav, his classes and Fridays. The only answer he gave to Takashi was another grunt.

“Keith, if I wanted to hear grunts I would’ve talked to the assholes who use the same gym I do. I’m always here, ready to talk.” said Takashi quietly, while Keith covered himself with a blanked he had left on his chair at his desk.

“No, sorry. Today was way worse than usual.” said Keith. “Man, if I knew how bad this day would go, I would’ve stayed in my room sleeping until late.”

“What happened?” asked Takashi in his Keith voice, the one he reserved just for him, the one he loved to hear, the one he heard less and less as years passed.

“First my alarm didn’t wake me up, so I was late for Sanda’s classes. I bought a coffee to wake up a little in the break between Sanda’s and Iverson’s classes and an asshole spilled it all over me. Iverson wasn’t happy I showed up covered in coffee, so he made me stay late, and you know how Slav gets when you’re late. I had to talk to him after classes and it was the worst. You know how he gets on a full probability kick every now and then? He got into probabilities and in his opinion I have less than 5% chances of having a grade high enough to maintain my scholarship. And then, to top off this shitty, shitty day, I got a rejection from my top two places where I hoped to have an internship this summer.” mumbled Keith, still lying on his bed, wrapped like a burrito in his blanket.

“Hey, Keith, you know that if you lose your scholarship you can always move to Cali and be my live-in best friend.” joked Takashi, as he had done many times before.

“Nah, it won’t happen. Slav’s just ‘the glass is empty’ kind of professor. But still, hearing that he has so little faith in quote “a brilliant student” is kind of terrifying. What he’s planning for our final exam? To calculate the statistics of returning from a trip in outer space alive?” Someone was talking to Takashi on the other side of the phone call, and Keith understood that they would have to talk later. Takashi’s life was busy, and he seemed to have less and less time for him. He understood, but it didn’t make it hurt any less. Takashi said goodbye quickly, promising to call the next day.

 

 

Keith desperately wanted to see his best friend in person. Takashi had offered many times to buy him tickets to LA, but Keith had been too proud to accept and Takashi had stopped offering. Clinging to his smartphone like it would resolve all his problems, Keith laid on the bed for a few minutes, before sending to the groupchat a string of messages that summed up meant he was getting drunk that evening, and that they were all invited. He had no doubts Lance would accept the invitation, if only to have a rematch in their little game of drinking abilities. Allura, Pidge and Hunk accepting his invitation hinged mostly on if they had any plans tomorrow.

Anyways, time to drink and forget. Tomorrow was another day, after all.


	2. the heart is the size of a fist

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Sorry for taking so long to update, but uni was kicking my ass until today. But now I'm free and I'm hoping to write the next chapters over the next week and a half, so they should come rather quickly together.  
> I own nothing, the title of this chapter comes from [this](http://afadthatlastsforever.tumblr.com/post/178411057265/the-heart-is-the-size-of-a-fist-because-you-were) (The Fist Fight by Beau Taplin) and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter. Stay tuned for more!

_I’ll never drink again_ , thought Keith the next day, as he chewed on a greasy piece of bacon in his favourite hole in the wall diner. In front of him Lance was drowning his pancakes in fake maple syrup, while Pidge was eating a hamburger with extra fries. The diner was a routine stop after their nights out, especially if Keith was the one who was hangover. Not that it happened many times, as usually he limited himself to a few drinks, but his friends also loved the diner, mostly because the staff loved Keith and always threw in a few extra pieces of bacon or fries. The evening before had been an exception, prompted by a shitty day ending a shitty week and Takashi being more busy than usual.

“I want to go to see Shiro the Hero’s new movie,” said Lance out of the blue. Pidge seemed to finally realize she wasn’t alone at the table and that the ketchup on her plate shouldn’t be used to write equations down, before saying “Ugh, do we need to?”

There was a reason he was so close to Pidge out of all of his friends, and it had mostly to do with the fact that she wasn’t a big movie fan, especially the type of movies in which Takashi usually starred. Plus Takashi had sent him an exclusive DVD copy of the movie even before it was released, so going to the cinema was a bit redundant. Not that any of his friends knew about the DVD, as he had promised to keep it secret, but still, he thought he had said to Lance he had already seen the movie. Or, more probably, he had told Lance and Lance hadn’t believed him.

“I already saw it and I told you that, Lance” he said at last, before cramming in his mouth another piece of bacon.

“Yep. Still don’t believe you.” replied Lance.

“Do you want me to spoil all the plot twists so you can have proof I saw the movie? Or will you just shut up if I cram your pancakes down your throat?”

“Uuuuh, someone’s touchy today.” said Lance with a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Lance, if you don’t shut up Keith will kill you and I’ll help him hide your body.” said Pidge. Lance just shrugged and started eating his pancakes, before adding “Don’ care.”

Keith just laid down his head on the sticky table. “Please don’t start Lance. This week has been awful and I don’t need to be arrested for attempted murder.”

“Do you think my week has been good?” asked Lance, before adding “If it had been, I wouldn’t have tried to drown in alcohol yesterday.”

“What happened Lancey-Lance?” mocked him Pidge. “You broke a nail studying?”

“Nyma caught me flirting with the bartender at The Rebellion Club on Wednesday and she broke up with me.” mumbled Lance with his mouth full. Keith thought it was a disgusting spectacle, but then he registered what Lance had said.

“So that’s why you want to see the new Shiro movie. You just want to watch Allura kick ass for two hours straight.” snickered Keith, knowing perfectly well why so many males watched Takashi’s movies. If they were interested in women, they could watch Allura D’Altea, and if they were interested in men they could watch Takashi. Or how he was better known, Shiro the Hero. His best friend was one of the hottest actors of the moment. Lance flirting with another woman while he was with Nyma was not new either, and it probably was the reason she dumped Lance’s ass.

“Oh, please, as if you don’t have a crush on Shiro.” replied Lance.

Sometimes Keith regretted coming out to his friends, and that was one of those times. He could bear a lot of teasing from Lance, but Takashi was the only thing he wasn’t willing to be teased about. Lance seemed to realize his mistake, and quickly apologized, but the mood at the table was ruined.

As soon as they finished eating, Keith threw on the table enough money to cover their meal and a good tip before leaving the small diner. What he really wanted to do was talk to Takashi, but he couldn’t, as Sundays were the only days he could sleep in.

Still, he sent him a quick message, hoping that today was one of those rare Sundays in which he woke up early for no reason at all, but after waiting for a few minutes without getting a reply, he sighed and pocketed his smartphone. He’d Skype with Takashi later, and then maybe he could finally ask him to come on the camping trip he organized, at least for a day or two. Well, him and Allura. He couldn’t wait to see Lance go full disaster-mode around her.

* * *

“Allura, you want to meet Keith, right?” said Shiro that evening. He knew she had wanted to meet Keith since the first time Shiro had talked about him to her, almost two years before. At twenty-five, he knew he had been very lucky to get his break almost overnight. One day he had been a struggling twenty year old aspiring screenwriter as many others, and the next he had been cast in what would be a box-office record breaker. Zero to Hero just like that indeed.

He was lucky that his co-star Allura had been way more experienced in all things regarding fame in Hollywood, since her family was what passed for royalty in Hollywood, and that she was looking for a roommate since she broke up with her long-time boyfriend and almost fiancé Lotor Zarkonsson.

“Yeah, I know I’ve already talked to him during your weekly Skype calls, but I’d like to meet him in person.” said Allura, smiling over her cup of evening tea.

“Great news then: he invited both of us on a week-long camping trip in June. He’s invited also some of his new friends and he said that there’s no problem if we stay only a day or two.”

“Shiro, you know you’re one of my best friends, but I’ve never been camping. To be honest it sounds kind of out of my wheelhouse. And, well, uncomfortable.” said Allura, before adding “But if that means that I’ll finally watch you go all red and stammer around Keith, hey, I’m all in.”

“Allura, you’re the worst,” whined Shiro. “I already know I’m going to embarrass myself in front of Keith. No need to be so brutal about it.” He thought back to his Skype call with Keith, and added a few more details that would make Allura say yes immediately.. “He said that the trip is mostly an excuse to get drunk and make s’mores at the beach.” he added, knowing perfectly well that the only thing Allura couldn’t resist was beaches. Allura chuckled softly. “I know what you’re doing, Shiro, and I want to point out that I already agreed to come with you. Well, I’ll talk to Coran and clear out both of our schedules for that week. Do you know when you’re going to start shooting that new romantic comedy movie?”

“No idea, but at the last audition they said mid June at best. Coran will probably know it better than me.”

Allura grinned and sat on the couch. “Refusing to do the other movie that started shooting in May had nothing to do with Keith, right?”

“Ugh, you know me too well.” said Shiro, plopping down on the couch next to Allura.

“Shiro, there’s no ‘knowing too well’, there’s only ‘extra blackmail material’.”

“Ugh, you already know too much, so we have to remain friends forever. What do you need more blackmail material for?”said Shiro.

“Well, once you get your shit together and ask Keith out, I’ll have to help him and tell him about what he missed in the last two years, since he refused to visit. Also, there’s a restaurant that’s opening in a few weeks and I really really want to check it out.” Shiro didn’t like Allura’s evil grin. She knew perfectly well that there was only one type of food he didn’t eat: French cuisine.

“It’s going to be French food, isn’t it?” he sighed. No way to avoid it, and Allura knew it.

“If you go with me, I promise I’m not going to tell Keith how much you talked about him when the two of you haven’t seen each other since you were twelve and he was nine.” And that was that. Allura would definitely embarrass him in front of Keith, Keith would hate him, and their friendship would be over. He hadn’t realized that he said that out loud until Allura said “What a drama queen, I’m so glad Coran found you at that audition, you would have been wasted in small roles.”


	3. we don’t know what’s good for us ('cause if we did, we might not do it)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! This chapter was a rather difficult chapter to write for me, mostly because university is still kicking my ass (thanks to a professor that changed the exam date last minute) and university takes the priority over fanfiction. Weird, I know.  
> Anyways, as always nothing is mine, the title of this chapter comes from the song 'Grip' by Bastille and Seeb. (There's a reference to the fic 'I Thought Your Mom Was an Astronaut, Not an Alien' by Ahhuya, brownie points if you get it, otherwise go check out that fic, it's great)  
> I've already started writing the next chapter, and _finally_ Keith and Shiro will meet again! Hopefully it should be up by the end of this week, but I'm not the best at maintaining promises,so just watch out for the next chapter, I guess :P

Pidge is the first friend he made since Romelle, and she doesn’t really count. As his adopted sister, it was sink or swim with their friendship, and they worked together, like blood relatives. Pidge is his first friend since he tried to befriend that asshole James Griffin, who didn’t believe Keith would punch him if he insulted Romelle. (Joke was on him though, he would and he did, because Griffin was an asshole). When they were paired for a midterm paper in his sophomore year he thought nothing much of it. They got along, they wrote the paper and life went on. Except prof. Slav hated him, so for the paper that was 60% of their final grade he was paired with Pidge, again. There would have been no problems if it had been only Pidge, but the paper had to be written in groups of four, and Pidge asked if her friend Hunk and his friend Lance could write it with them and he said ‘ _sure_ ’.

Thinking on it, that was the point his life turned around. Sure, Lance was kind of intolerable in big doses, but he was a riot. He tried to be a second James Griffin, but he hadn’t been good at it, so they settled in a friendship with an abundant sprinkle of bickering and banter. Hunk was the yang to Lance’s yin and their friendship was as stable as they come. They were another pair of childhood friends, and they understood perfectly (the few time he had talked about it) the feeling of knowing someone better than yourself. That didn’t mean they didn’t groan when he started rambling about Takashi, but they understood since they had gone to different high schools in different cities.

One of the first things Lance had told him was that is favourite actress was Allura D’Altea. Well, he had deduced more than been told, because Lance’s room had way too many posters of movies in which she starred. Keith had talked a few times with her and she had seemed very nice, but there was no way he’d tell anyone he knew her. Still, Pidge knew he was friends with Takashi, and he assumed so did Hunk and Lance.

Pidge was awesome, and she and Hunk had gotten their hands on his bike a month after he met Lance and Hunk. Red, when they returned it, was better than ever and he was at least 75% sure that if anyone checked out the motor they would find it souped-up.

He tells them Takashi is coming with his roommate on their camping trip in the library, mostly because in there they won’t be allowed to scream as they would have done if he told them in Lance and Hunk’s small flat. He may have known them only for a few months, but they all wanted to meet Takashi, and he can guess their reaction.

* * *

When Keith tells them that Takashi is coming to the camping trip, a weird silence hangs in the air over their table. They knew a lot about Takashi, even had seen the rare picture of him with Keith as kids, and they also knew how much Takashi meant to Keith.

At his best he was a wall difficult to breach, at his worst he could be another planet. Romelle had told them about Keith’s difficulties to make friends when she had visited Keith, and how Takashi was Keith’s best friend because they were the same, too guarded for their own good. Still, Keith had become their friend, and even if sometimes he was confused by it, he let them do their own thing. Case in point, Red. Red is Keith’s bike, a gift from his parents for his eighteenth birthday, and she and Hunk had gotten their hands on it. The two of them had tuned it up, gave it a few not-so-legal extras and Keith had only thanked them. Still, Keith was her friend first, and she knows him a little bit better than Hunk and Lance (she reckoned he missed Romelle and all his big brother feelings had to go somewhere, and that somewhere was her, the genius eighteen years old prodigy). She knows there’s something she forgot about Takashi, something _important_ , something Keith told her while she was busy coding Rover, but she. can’t. remember. what. it. is. and is driving her crazy.

Oh well, if she doesn’t remember by the time they go to the camping trip, she will low-key ask Keith again, if only because she doesn’t want to put her foot in her mouth in front of new people. Even if new people is Keith’s best friend and a person she knows too much for having never met him.

(Okay, she had tried to at least google him, but all that came up was Shiro the Hero. Officially there was no Takashi that Keith could know, so maybe she had written it wrong. Oh well, she could interrogate him at the lake.)

Still, the weird silence stays with them until Lance makes a joke about it and then it gets better. The news that two people they never met are coming with them on their trip is disconcerting, and even more that Keith says ‘you know, Takashi’s _roommate_ ’ in a tone that says ‘you-know-of-whom-I-am-talking’ without even bothering to tell the roommate’s name. In the year they have known each other Pidge has discovered that Keith can be a little weird on some things ( _Ketchup and a dry piece of meat of questionable origins is not an acceptable meal, Keith._ ) or maybe it’s another of Keith’s quirks, like the fact that he sleeps with a knife on his nightstand ( _It was a gift from my mom, Pidge. Romelle sleeps with hers under the bed._ ). Or maybe he told her about the roommate during one of her coding binges, the ones that happened way more regularly than she’d liked to admit.

Anyways, they were coming and that was the end of it. Keith was the one who organized the whole thing, and if he wanted his best friend there, well,it was a small price to pay for Keith opening up to them. Because them meeting Takashi was exactly that: an enormous show of trust, she just hoped that Hunk and Lance understood that.

* * *

Shiro knew that he should prepare himself for the camping trip. Allura had already made fun of him because he was so nervous about it. He knew that he should buy at least a sleeping bag and a backpack, but every time he thought about it he realized he wasn’t ready and put it off just a little bit more. The weeks were going by, and soon it would be May and May meant Keith’s camping trip.

There was a reason for his procrastinating that he hadn’t admitted to anyone, a reason he almost didn’t admit to himself: he was scared to meet Keith. They hadn’t seen each other in thirteen years, they had both changed, and it scared him more than anything else. Their lives were so different and he had no idea how their lives would fit together once again. He was sure that once they met in person again they wouldn’t let go, and that could become a problem. Sure, his next movie would be shot just half an hour from Keith’s college and the whole thing would take a few months, but Keith still had to complete his senior year before he graduated, and there was no way he’d change colleges just for him. Maybe he’d have done it in his freshman year, but Shiro hadn’t been famous then. And then there was the elephant in the room: Shiro was in love with Keith. One day he had just realized he was in love with his best friend, and that said best friend lived on the other coast of the continent.

Still, he has to make a decision, and fast. Not that he has much of a choice, not really. Sure, Coran could conjure up a last minute obligation, but he was sure Allura would go without him. He didn’t like the idea of Allura going somewhere like that alone, especially since he had invited her. There was also the small detail that Allura could tell all kinds of embarrassing stories about him, and he didn’t want Keith to hear them, not if they weren’t meeting. He should have thought about it before accepting, but there was no point in crying over spilled milk.

With a sigh Shiro logged into his Amazon account, because there was no way he’d go to a store to buy the sleeping bag and backpack. His fame made his shopping experiences a nightmare, and it was way easier to just get the packages from the doorman.


	4. you and me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!  
> As promised, the next chapter is here! While writing this I was listening to Carry Me by Kygo on repeat, but the actual chapter has nothing to do with the song (Catchy tunes are my weakness). The next update should come in the next week or so, hopefully by Friday. *crosses fingers* I'm actually rather proud of this chapter, despite how much it took me to write it down. As always, kudos and comments are appreciated, and see you next chapter! Enjoy!

Keith hates finals weeks with all his being. He is sure he isn’t the only one, but at 3 a.m. cramming in the library with an enormous cup of coffee he hates everything and everyone, but mostly the lucky people already done with their finals and professor Slav. An hour later he decides that he isn’t going to remember anything else, no matter how many times he reads the same paragraph, so he gives up on studying and he brings out his smartphone. Noticing that Takashi wrote him just a few minutes before he distractedly scrolls through his Instagram feed. Food, food, nature pic, pic of friends out celebrating, Takashi in a tuxedo. Maybe because it’s 4 a.m., maybe because he knows Takashi is still awake, maybe because he just saw a gorgeous man in a tux, he calls him. He doesn’t actually expect Takashi to answer, as he assumes he is in a club somewhere in LA, partying, but Takashi answers after the third ring (one more and Keith would have hung up on him). Keith has no plans on what to tell him, so his sleep deprived brain says “I miss you” before his verbal filter has the chance to kick in.

Oh well, he already threw himself over the bomb, he might as well go all the way to Awkwardness Town and be more honest with his feelings than he has been in years.

“I miss my best friend, ‘kashi. You have no idea how much. I’m so glad you agreed to come to the beach with me. I mean, us.” he says into the phone, while blushing. He has never been more glad than in that moment that Takashi can’t see him.

Takashi’s answer is just a soft “I know, I miss you too.” Neither says anything else for a long minute, and Keith is reluctant to hang up. He can hear the soft breathing of his best friend and the background noises of the library.

“Keith, I really don’t want to hang up, but I’m hiding in the bathroom and I need to go.” says Shiro, and Keith has many questions now, mostly centered around why he is hiding in the bathroom, but he understands this isn’t the time to ask questions. Without saying anything he just presses the hang up key on the screen, before closing his eyes. A small tear escapes the corner of his eye, and he furiously wipes it away. Just three more days and then he’ll see Takashi again. Three days and Takashi will be there with him. He just has to survive until then.

* * *

Hunk likes Keith. They've known each other for less than a year, but he already knows him better than many of his high school classmates. He knows that until last year he went camping with his sister, but this year he invited Hunk, Pidge, Lance, his childhood best friend Takashi and Takashi’s roommate, all because Romelle is finishing her semester abroad before backpacking through Europe. Keith had asked everyone’s help: he would help with the food, Lance would help with the beverages and Pidge was the one responsible for the small generator and solar panels they would use for electricity, while Keith would bring the tents, sleeping bags and inflatable mattresses they would use. Luckily enough the small lake near which they would camp could be reached by car, so there would be no need to trek there.

It’s the Saturday before they leave and everything they will need is packed, well, at least the food is. He has no idea if the others already packed and doesn’t want to ask. He knows Lance too well: he’ll pack tomorrow afternoon in a hurry and will forget something, and then he’ll ask if he can borrow stuff from him. Sometimes he thinks Lance would lose his head if it weren’t attached to his neck. Oh well. At least there’s a supermarket in driving distance.

There had been much arguing over what food should they bring, but they had settled (mostly) on stuff they could just re-heat, even if Keith hadn’t been too happy.

 _‘What’s wrong with the stuff I thought we would eat?’_ he had asked, but Hunk prefers his food to be bought in a supermarket, not caught in the wild. He didn’t dare ask what Keith and Romelle had eaten the previous years, because otherwise he’d start yelling.

He’s preparing bread for tomorrow, because the best way to think for him is just knead something, and you can’t go wrong with bread. He’s elbows deep in flour and dough when Lance’s phone pings. He’s not surprised that Lance’s phone is pinging, nor that is the ping reserved for group texts. What he’s surprised of is that the phone, usually surgically attached to Lance’s hand, has somehow ended up on the countertop, next to the fruit bowl he stubbornly keeps there, even if it has only a lonely apple in it. He glances at the blocked screen, and then yells “You have a new notification!” at Lance, hoping he’d hear him. He indeed hears him and enters the kitchen just a few seconds later.

“It’s Keith,” says Lance, before adding “he’s asking if we want to go out tomorrow.”

Hunk thinks about it for a few seconds, and then impulsively decides that yes, he’d go. “I’m in, can you tell Keith? I’m kinda busy at the moment and my hands are not clean. Has Pidge responded yet?”

“Nope. I bet she’s neck deep in some new coding and she forgot that sleep and food were things you actually need.” In all the time he’d known her, Pidge had been the subject of no less than four interventions, all consequences of forty-eight or more hours without sleep.

Lance’s phone pings again, but this time the sound is the one reserved for notifications about his favourite movie stars, Shiro the Hero and Allura D’Altea. And then Lance emits a high-pitched sound that is too similar to a small piglet being hugged to death (his nephews loved Pua, but Pua hadn’t liked to be hugged), before screaming in his face “THEY’RE HERE!” and running to Pidge’s room.

“What do you mean, they’re here?” asked Hunk to the empty room. “Lance, come back, you can’t say shit like this and leave!” he shouted, hoping that Lance would hear over his excited screams. Before Lance calms down (Pidge is uninterested in news from the two actors) Hunk has the time to knead his dough and set it aside to proof. And then, finally, he gets to see what has made Lance scream: a picture of Shiro and Allura that has on the background the statue that’s right across the train station and a picture of Shiro sleeping in what seems to be an airplane seat. The caption is a simple and enigmatic ‘#travel #shiroistheworst #hecansleepeverywhere and Shiro’s handle, @shiro_t_. Hunk assumes, as most people would do, that the two are traveling to somewhere far more interesting than their little college town, and that their photo with the statue in the background happened during a stop. He highly doubts they were in town any longer than fifteen minutes, but Lance had always hoped to meet Allura.

Pidge categorically refuses to move from her swivel chair and two monitors, so Hunk finds himself at the train station at g p.m. while Lance drags him around like he weights nothing. While he waits he checks their groupchat to see if Keith said anything and to see if Pidge answered. He’s rather surprised to see that Keith and Pidge are bouncing ideas off each other. Keith was an astronomy major while Pidge’s major had something to do with computers and science. Hunk himself was working towards an aeronautics mechanics degree, while Lance was a Poli-Sci major. Still, one of the rules they had created after a way too long convo between him and Keith was that the groupchat was a college-free zone. The only permitted to mention college if it made someone late or if they had to tell the others where were they. But even with the rules sometimes Pidge and Keith started bouncing off ideas to each other, so it was his duty as the administrator of the group to kick them out of the chat. He’d add them back in a few minutes, once they calmed down or had moved to a private chat. He liked his friends, but they could be _exhausting_. He couldn’t wait to get to the lake, where there was little phone coverage. Lance would lose his mind, so Keith had wisely omitted that small fact, and Hunk would get to enjoy the resulting argument and Lance’s temper tantrum.

* * *

Shiro and Allura were in town, staying under Coran’s name in one of the two hotels. He wanted to invite them to the pub with him, Lance, Hunk and Pidge, but he knew that if he did so Shiro and Allura would be forced to spend the whole evening autographing napkins and taking photos with fans, and their trip wouldn’t be so secret anymore. He knew that Allura had posted a picture of the two of them in town, but he was sure (okay, 90% sure) almost no one would recognize it. No one knew they were staying or _where_ they were staying, so they were safe. For now.

* * *

Allura’s decision to post the picture taken with that statue in the background was not her best idea, she could freely admit that. Still, they had arrived the afternoon before and settled in their hotel room. Coran had reserved a double room under his name, and the lady at the reception hadn’t recognized them [Thank God.] Their evening had been uneventful, ordering takeout and marathoning a few episodes of Planet Earth, while today they had planned to explore the town a little and meet with Keith in the afternoon.

She was nervous, and every glance in their direction just added to the feeling of being watched. She should never have posted that picture, but she couldn’t travel back in time and undo it. Shiro had skipped over his usual bright t-shirts and shorts, so now he was wearing jeans and a plain black t-shirt. Her hair, a natural platinum blonde, stood out everywhere, so she had twisted them up in a knot and covered them with a bright scarf.

Meeting Keith was a big thing. She knew that very few in Hollywood knew about him, and most of the people Shiro met on set thought he had a secret girlfriend (he was openly gay, but prejudices were hard to kill). Keith had been there for Shiro from the start, before he became famous, before his smile graced the covers of half the magazines one could be on. Keith was, undoubtedly, a giant part of Shiro’s life, and she wanted to make a good impression on him. They had already talked and exchanged numbers, but she was getting more and more nervous as 3 p.m. approached. They had decided to meet at a café near Keith’s college. She was sitting with her back to the door, so when a rather tall but lean man stopped at their table she was surprised. Keith was taller than she expected, and his dark eyes had a spark of barely concealed amusement in them. Just by looking in his eyes she knew they’d go along swimmingly. With the corner of her eye she saw Shiro stop in his tracks and let out a small gasp.

“Hi Keith.” she said, smiling. “I have the feeling we’ll be great friends.” She would have said something more, but Keith’s gaze was captured by Shiro. Watching the two of them was like watching the mating dance of some exotic species of bird. The camping trip had suddenly become much more interesting than she thought. As Keith greeted Shiro with a hug, and Shiro flushed a rather unflattering shade of red, she idly wondered how long before they started dating. Keith had devoured Shiro with his eyes, and Shiro had checked out Keith’s ass as he had gone to the counter to order his coffee.

 _‘This will be so much fun’_ she thought and gave Shiro a knowing smile over the rim of her coffee cup.

Shiro groaned and put his head in his hands. “I’m screwed, aren’t I?”


	5. the constellations of light you already carry inside you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A new chapter appears!  
> I have to admit that I don't know when the next chapter will be posted, as I'm starting a new semester and it will be more demanding than the last one, so please bear with me if new chapters will take more time. As always, I don't own Voltron (if I did s8 would have been _way_ different), the title of this chapter comes from [this](http://afadthatlastsforever.tumblr.com/post/179175197933/reach-for-the-stars-but-child-first) post (Reach For The Stars by Beau Taplin) and all kudos and comments are cherished!

Pidge knows that something’s wrong with Keith as soon as he gets home. She has never seen him like this, never seen him upset. She may have known him for just a little over a year, but she had the feeling that Keith, despite the stoix fae he wore all the time, was very rarely upset by something or someone.

Noticing her questioning look, Keith sighs and says “I met with Takashi.”, after sinking into the couch. “It didn’t go as I thought.”

“Didn’t you say he’d come over tomorrow?” she asked, because she was sure Keith had told her that Takashi had to work right up until today.

“Yeah. He and his roommate wanted to surprise me and they succeeded. It was nice meeting him, but I wasn’t ready, at all.”

“Was it awkward meeting him again after all this time?”

“That was one of the weird parts. No, it was like we were never apart. He was a scrawny little kid and now his muscles have muscles. It’s not fair.”

“Keith, are you sure you’re not in love with Takashi?”

Keith sighed. “Even if I was, he doesn’t like me like that. I’m his best friend and he’s mine, it doesn’t matter if I’m in love with him.” Oh. That’s the reason for Keith’s less than stellar mood.

“Still, I can’t wait to meet _the_ Takashi. Have you invited him out with us tonight?”

“Yeah, but he said he has an important Skype meeting because he left two days before to surprise me. He said he’d try to come by later. I gave him the address of The Black Lion.”

“Speaking of Takashi, you still haven’t told anything about his roommate to anyone. We have no clue who they are. Are they a male or a female? How did they meet?”

Keith sits up all of a sudden. “Don't you know who Takashi’s roommate is?”

“Why should I know something like that, Keith? It’s not like I know Takashi!”

There’s a mischievous spark in Keith’s eyes that wasn’t there when he came home, and Pidge knows him well enough to know that he’s up to something. “What are you up to, Keith?” she asks him suspiciously. Keith’s ideas have a penchant for getting him and his friends (her included) in all sorts of trouble.

“Nothing. I just realized something very important.” said Keith, and no matter how hard she tries Keith doesn’t tell her anything. When Lance and Hunk get home Pidge tells them all about Keith meeting Takashi.

It’s not until much later, when they’re drinking at The Black Lion that Pidge realizes how well Keith redirected her attention, as he didn’t tell her anything at all about Takashi’s roommate.

It’s asking again about said roommate that starts the conspiracy theories and, once Keith goes up to the counter to order another round of drinks, the usual bets. Pidge doesn’t exactly remember how the bets about everything Takashi startet, she just knows that now there’s a spreadsheet with all their bets on informations Keith hasn’t told them. The only bet they didn’t make was if and when Keith would realize he was in love with Takashi (and now Pidge knew that Keith was aware of if). Hunk has so far the most outlandish conspiracy theories about Takashi, including that he’s an alien from Pluto, a spy of some sort or a robot, but her favorite conspiracy theory is still the one in which Keith’s best friend Takashi is really Takashi ‘Shiro the Hero’ Shirogane. Hunk is rather proud of that one, but it has no basis in reality, as far as they can discover. Their childhoods don’t match up, because while Keith grew up first in California and then moved Arizona before moving away college, Shiro had grown up in Nevada and moved to LA when Keith had already moved away.

When Keith doesn’t return with their drinks they start getting worried, so Pidge stands up and goes to the counter, hoping she’ll find him there. As she discovers that there’s no sign of him there she remembers that Keith smokes when he is nervous, and today’s meeting with Takashi means that Keith is nervous and will be outside, smoking a cigarette. She hates going out without her jacket, but she just wants to check on Keith, to be sure he’s outside.

Sure enough, he’s outside smoking a cigarette and talking on the phone to someone, probably Romelle. Satisfied, Pidge goes back inside. Keith will come back soon, and there are still a few things to straighten up about their bets before he comes back.

* * *

“They have no clue who you really are, Takashi.” said Keith, sounding almost desperate.

“Keith, I know. You already told me, like, five times. I understand, but what can I do? Get plastic surgery so they won’t recognize me?” Shiro sounded exasperated, and he was justified in that. Since discovering that afternoon that Pidge and by extension Lance and Hunk had no clue Takashi was Shiro he had been off-kilter. He had thought his friends had just respected Takashi and Allura’s privacy by not asking about them, not that they didn’t have any clue he knew them! “Keith, listen, you’re my best friend and I love you, but Allura will kill me in approximately five seconds if I continue to talk to you. We’ll deal with everyone tomorrow, okay?” and without even saying goodbye hung up on him.

Keith groaned. Had Takashi stayed just a few moments more on the phone with him he would have told him not to come on the camping trip. But now that _that_ was shot to hell, he had to find an alternative solution. He knew Hunk and Pidge would be cool if he introduced them to Shiro and Allura, but Lance was a big, no, _enormous_ problem. He knew, just _knew_ , that the idiot would ruin Allura’s trip.

Glancing at his smartphone he noticed that he had been on the phone longer than intended, and that his friends would start to get antsy soon without their drinks. Exhaling slowly, Keith put out what remained of his cigarette on the wall he was leaning on and tossed the butt in the ashtray near the entrance to the pub.

When he returned to their table with his and Hunk’s beers, Pidge’s cider and Lance’s cocktail, he found his friends busy discussing one of Pidge's most outlandish conspiracy theories, and a favorite of his: there were aliens in outer space. Pidge thought she had proof about it, and that the aliens in question called themselves Voltron.

“Voltron again?” he said, as he put down the drinks.

Hunk chuckled and nodded, while Lance and Pidge were talking all over each other, as their usual. “They’ve been at each other’s throats since Lance said that Pidge has no proof and the Voltron thing is just some dumb kid’s joke.”

Keith’s only reaction was to take a swig of his beer. Pidge and Lance were good friends, but when then they started arguing there was no off button. He and Hunk chatted a bit about the camping trip, and then proceeded to tease the hell out of their friends when they finally realized they were just a few decibels away from screaming at each other in their usual drinking place.

As the evening advanced, Keith found himself staring more and more at his smartphone, wondering if Takashi was asleep or still watching movies with Allura. The others were getting more and more drunk, lightweights, all of them. He wondered if they would remember if he told them about Takashi when they were drunk, and then chuckled at that. They wouldn’t believe him, and, despite him low-key freaking out about it, they would meet him and Allura tomorrow morning at 10 a.m., still hungover and in no way ready to meet his best friend who also was a celebrity.

* * *

Lance was hungover, in a shitty mood and he was wearing one of his threadbare band t-shirts and old gym shorts when he opened the door that morning. The next thing he did was shut the door again, because his nightmare was too realistic, and shuffle into the kitchen while the doorbell rang again.

“Who was it at the door?” asked Keith, unfairly not-hungover.

“Cosplayers.” he said. “They were dressed as Shiro the Hero and Allura D’Altea. Very realistic. I think they got the wrong apartment.”

“Oh no,” said Keith and disappeared down the hallway.

Lance heard him open the door, and then greet the cosplayers. Or at least that’s what presumably Keith did, as their voices were low and sound didn’t carry well from the hallway into the kitchen. Hunk, who was eating cereal at the table, and Pidge, who was rummaging in the fridge, both looked up when Keith entered the kitchen, with the two cosplayers in tow.

“Well, that was rather rude.” said the unmistakable voice of Allura D’Altea.

Keith cleared his throat. “Guys, I’d like you to meet my best friend Takashi and his friend and roommate Allura.”

Shiro the Hero shook everyone’s hands while introducing himself, while Allura talked with Keith. The whole thing was just too much for Lance, who, still freaking out inside, said “This is a joke, right?”

“Nope.” said Shiro, smiling. Damn, even his smiles were great. “We’re coming with you on the camping trip to Lake Arus.”

The only thing he could get out was “You- Keith- him- Allura-” before shutting up. That made way more sense in his head. He had meant to say ‘He’s Shiro the Hero. Keith knows him and Allura.’

“I’m sure we’ll get along swimmingly.” said Allura while grinning in his direction, and Lance suddenly remembered that a smile was nothing more of a baring of teeth.


	6. i think we'll have fun together (or, Lance and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! I had some extra time, and instead of preparing for the next semester like a rational person, I wrote the next chapter of my small story. I think this chapter's title is rather self explanatory, but don't worry! Things will get better for Lance soon (I love him, but it's just so much fun to put him in this kind of situations!) Anyways, everyone is tired of the mutual pining, Allura plans her revenge and they finally start camping!  
> As always, nothing is mine except the most clichéd of the plots. I hope you'll enjoy the chapter and kudos & comments are an author's lifeblood.

Allura D’Altea was in his kitchen and she was calmly talking to Pidge about something or other. He still couldn’t believe Keith actually knew Allura and Shiro, and that they were coming on the camping trip with them. His day had started with a hangover, continued with him shutting the door on his favorite actress and was currently in the middle of a multi-layered freakout about it. He still hadn’t packed for the camping trip, Allura had seen him in one of his worst outfits ever (the bright neon green t-shirt and the washed-out pink shorts hadn’t been his best moment) and Hunk had categorically refused to help him.

All he wanted to do in that exact moment was just bury himself in the deep hole he had dug up, but life wasn’t kind and he had to deal with the consequences of his unexpected (okay, not really) blunder. Allura had glared at him for ten minutes, Hunk and Pidge had settled some bet, and Keith and Shiro were living in their own world. They hadn’t stopped talking and gazing adoringly in each other’s eyes since Keith had introduced Shiro and Allura to everyone, and quite honestly he was getting tired of it. If he had to deal with them for the whole week he would drown himself in the lake.

With a sigh, Lance left the kitchen and went into his and Hunk’s room. He had to prepare his backpack and he had no clue at all about what he needed to bring. He had planned to ask Keith, but he should have known that once Takashi arrived Keith would spend most of his time with him. Throwing a few hoodies, a few t-shirts and shorts in his backpack he hoped that Hunk would lend him stuff he would undoubtedly forget. Throwing everything he needed into his toiletries bag he hoped his day would get better.

As soon as he entered the kitchen he noticed that the others weren’t there except Allura, who was drinking a mug of tea. Trying to act nonchalantly he almost tripped over the edge of the rug, and he groaned. What was his problem? Her first impression of him had been awful, and the second one wasn’t faring much better.

Great. Allura was laughing at him and she was right. He was a disaster and he would have paid to have the ground open up and swallow him whole.

* * *

Allura trusted her gut when it came to people. As someone who had grown up amidst all the glitz and glitter of Hollywood she had learned to trust her instincts, who were very reliable. Except Lance McClain apparently, because her gut insisted she could trust him, and that could be a big mistake. Only one person had fooled both her and her instincts and that had happened because before they dated each other they had been long-time friends. Lotor was still a painful memory, and their relationship was a victim of their father’s feud over Lotor’s mother’s death.

As Lance sat on a stool at the kitchen counter, Allura began planning her revenge. She had no brothers or sister, but she had been sent to boarding school when she was ten, and the rivalries there were almost as complicated as the internal politics of showbiz.

“Where is everyone else?” finally asked Lance, after a few moments of silence.

“Keith is showing Shiro his room and Pidge asked Hunk to help her load the power unit onto Keith’s truck.”

* * *

The drive to the lake and camping grounds had taken some coordination, as Keith’s truck had most of the equipment in the back, along with the power unit. Takashi had called shotgun on his truck, so Pidge, Allura, Hunk and Lance had all piled into Hunk’s jeep.

When they arrived at their destination everyone had just watched in awe at the clearing near the lake that was at the same time perfectly accessible by car and seemingly isolated from the outside world. The grass had been cut recently, the dirt road had been cleared and the beach was as close as it could get to a private beach, and Keith knew all that because one of his uncles was the owner of the clearing and stretch of beach, and Keith had both cut the grass and cleared the access road back during spring break, when he had stayed on campus. He knew perfectly well that there was a fire pit in the middle of the clearing, and that the woods around the clearing were full of wood for the campfire. He already missed Romelle and their dumb in-jokes, so he left her a short voicemail, knowing she would hear it the next day. This had always been their spot, since the first time their family had come to visit his uncle and had camped for a weekend there, and this was the first time he would camp here without her. Romelle may have been just an adopted sibling, a distant cousin with no other relatives, but they had become truly brother and sister.

He knew none of the others had ever gone camping and that he would have to do most of the work to set up camp, but he didn’t mind, and soon enough he started imparting instructions, sending Lance to gather wood for the campfire, leaving Pidge and Hunk to set up the power unit, and him, Takashi and Allura to set up the three tents.

The first tent went up very quickly, as it was the one that was the simplest to assemble, but on the second one it became obvious that Allura wasn’t really needed, so he sent her to start unpacking her bags and put her stuff in the first tent, the one she would share with Pidge, while he and Takashi shared the second one and Lance and Hunk shared the third one.

An hour and a half later everything was ready except the campfire, as Lance still hadn’t returned with the kindling and firewood. Leaving the others to a quick dip in the lake, he stated searching for Lance, who had left without his cellphone. Not that it would have helped, since there was little to no phone coverage, but still. He only hoped Lance hadn’t hurt himself or had fallen in one of the many animal dens that could be found in the woods.

* * *

Pidge wanted to stuff something in Shiro’s mouth and then slap a piece of duct tape over it. She had hoped that the famous actor Shiro would have some more chill over the guy he evidently liked, but no. Since Keith had decided to go find Lance and consequently left them, every second thing Shiro had said had something to do with Keith.

To be fair it had started even before they left, when Shiro had asked if he could be Keith’s passenger and no one had had the courage to deny that to Shiro. The passenger thing had been a natural progression of their non-stop talking since Keith had opened the door of their apartment and of their adoring gazes that they shot each other when they thought the other wasn’t looking. Pidge hated rom-coms, but it looked like she had ended up right in the middle of one, with her good friend and said friend’s best friend as stars. If they didn’t get their shit together on this trip, she would lock them in a closet somewhere and force them to deal with their feelings that were, contrary to what they thought, reciprocated. She and Allura caught each other’s eyes and realized they were thinking the same thing. Even Hunk, the most even-tempered out of their friend group seemed a little bit sick of hearing how awesome Keith was. Really, Shiro and Keith had to sort their shit out.

And her thoughts turned towards a burning question, something that had bothered since Keith had introduced Shiro to them (as if Shiro needed an introduction!). How had she missed that Shiro and Keith had known each other as children? How it hadn’t come up during her search? There were two people there who could answer her questions, and one had disappeared in the woods searching for Lance, while the other was gushing about the former.

* * *

He should have been a little more specific when he had asked the ground to open and swallow him whole, because he didn’t mean it literally, not really. He had been gathering firewood as Keith had asked him to do when his left foot had been swallowed by a hole he could’ve sworn hadn’t been there just a few moments before. Now, almost an hour later, he was still ensnared in the hole, his ankle had swollen a lot, and he was done, d o n e with the whole day, maybe even with the whole week. All he wanted was a hot shower, a warm meal and a good night of sleep, but that didn’t look likely any time soon. Sure, he could take a dunk in the lake, but the water was very likely cold, the warm meal couldn’t happen without a fire and the good night of sleep would probably elude him for every night he would spend sleeping in a tent.

And then, finally, Keith found him. Lance almost cried when he saw he carried a first aid kit with him, the one that had an ice pack and bandages. With Keith’s help and lots of help he finally succeeded at freeing his foot from what he realized was an animal den, and after bandaging it he slowly hobbled towards the tents, while Keith gathered enough wood for their campfire.

* * *

Shiro was a little worried about Keith, ever since he went searching for Lance with a first aid kit, and when he saw Lance limp out of the forest he realized Keith had stayed behind to gather enough firewood. He knew that Keith was more than a little paranoid about it since a few years before, when he and Romelle had run out of wood in the middle of the night and had a bad run-in with a branch while gathering more firewood. The rather big scar on his right cheek was a reminder of the accident, and Shiro knew Keith wanted to avoid a repeat of the same accident.

When he found him, Keith was humming some pop-sounding song, something that seemed so unlike Keith that it made Shiro smile. He knew of the secret playlist on Keith’s phone, the one filled with bubblegum pop and sugary songs, the one Keith would never admit he listened to.

“Do you need a hand?” he asked Keith, and scared him, as Keith hadn’t noticed Shiro was right behind Keith.

“Yeah, sure. Just make sure that the branches are dry and not rotten.” said Keith, and started humming _Never Gonna Give You Up_ , as if he had been humming it all along.

While working side by side Shiro couldn’t help but steal glances at Keith. He had always been gorgeous, and time had only enhanced his beauty. The pale skin contrasted with the black hair and eyes that looked almost violet under a certain light, and despite working with some of the world’s best looking men he still thought Keith was the best looking person he ever saw. Not that Keith knew Shiro’s thoughts, because it didn’t matter. Keith was his best friend and there was no way Keith felt what Shiro felt for him. That was what Shiro always told himself, something he repeated over and over, but his certainty had started to waver the afternoon of the day before, when he had noticed how Keith had stared at him.

Could be that there was a chance for the two of them as couple? Shiro desperately hoped that there was, but he couldn’t be sure until he at least confessed his feelings.

Still, Shiro was afraid, so he decided to wait until the last day of the camping trip, as he didn’t want to ruin it for everyone else if things went south.


	7. courage, dear heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first two week of the new semester didn't kill me and I actually had enough time to write this chapter. I'm hoping you will like it. The title of this chapter is from the book 'The Voyage of the Dawn Treader' by C.S. Lewis, and as always nothing belongs to me.

Allura hadn’t thought spending just a few days away from the cameras and with Keith would change Shiro so much. Keith and him had spent as much time as possible together, and even now, in the evening of the third day of the trip she could see them sitting on a beach towel, heads close together while they talked. She would have felt abandoned or lonely if it were not for Pidge and Hunk. The two of them had involved her in everything, including helping with the power unit and strangely enough she had not been a hindrance, thanks to all the time she had spent on sets and around lighting technicians.

She had enjoyed very much getting to know Pidge and Hunk, even if she had wanted to get to know better Keith. But Keith had been Shiro’s friend first, so it was really no big deal if they basically lived on their own planet. She could have made an effort to get to know Lance, but she was still a little bit miffed at how he had shut the door in her face. Keith had explained the circumstances behind that to her during one of the few moments they had alone together, but one of her flaws had always been her grudge-holding. She would let go of their introduction when Lance would apologize, and that was still a long way off based on how Lance avoided her. Not that Allura wasn’t avoiding him, but there were only six people there, not nearly enough to deny that they both avoided each other. Okay, six people on paper, while it was really more five people because Keith and Shiro were _constantly_ together.

Three days constantly together would have been more than enough for her and any of her other friends, Shiro included, but it was almost sweet how both Keith and Shiro seeked each other and talked. A lot. Non-stop.

Both Pidge and Hunk had expressed their surprise at Keith’s talkativity, and had also admitted that Lance had almost gotten in a fight with Keith when the former had started to mouth off about it. She had discovered that Lance mouthing off to Keith was not _that_ unusual, and that it would usually end with either Lance or Keith getting the upper hand over each other until the next argument.

Allura found their friendship more than a little weird. They seemed to dislike each other and made no qualms about showing it, but they would defend each other from anyone who dared to say anything. The only comparison that she had was Lotor and his cousin Axca, who had a similar relationship, but still weren’t as competitive and argumentative as Keith and Lance. Pidge had told her they usually weren’t _that_ bad, but her and Shiro’s presence had brought out the competitive side of their friendship. The fact that a misunderstanding meant the others had no clue Keith knew them hadn’t helped either, and so Lance and Keith were locked in a weird stalemate despite the fact that Keith hadn’t left Shiro’s side since they had met on Sunday morning.

She sighed while watching the two “best friends” walk on the beach and bump into each other with the sunset in the background. If this were one of hers and Shiro’s movies, it’d be the scene right before one of the protagonists confessed their love to the other, but she knew that in Shiro’s and Keith’s case this wouldn’t happen soon, if it happened at all. Shiro was supposed to be intelligent, but it sure as hell didn’t look like it at the moment. The only way Keith could have broadcasted his love for Shiro more openly was literally screaming it in Shiro’s face.

Hm, maybe she could give them a helping hand. Or, well, a helping kick in the ass, because with every minute it was getting more and more ridiculous. And well, she didn’t want her vacation to get boring and it would distract her from her grudge against Lance. ~~Even if she had to admit, the boy was hot~~ nope, that train of thought was just plain ridiculous.

* * *

A grumpy Lance was something that could be rarely seen, but grumpy Lance was all they got in the last three days, ever since the idiot had slammed the door on his favourite actress and her co-star. Adding to the mess, there was said co-star with his best friend, both pining on each other so much it almost seemed fake. But nope, the pining wasn’t the fake part. The fake part were their façades, because the two idiots couldn’t understand that they _were both in love with the other_.

Hunk had tried to solve the mess by trying to cheer up Lance and talking to Keith, but Lance was not in the mood to listen to Hunk’s advice. Pidge had overheard Hunk’s conversation with Keith (eavesdropping was such an _ugly_ word) and couldn’t comprehend how plain _dumb_ her friend was. The denial in which Keith lived wasn’t healthy, but then he wasn’t alone there either, because Shiro was right there besides him. She hadn’t talked to him much (no one else besides Keith had, really), but she had tried on the first day, while Keith was off in the forest searching for Lance. Her conclusions were that they were really perfect for each other: dumbasses, both of them. She had tried to explain to Shiro that Keith didn’t think of him as just a friend and that he had a chance with him, but Shiro had simply smiled and kept on the smile he got when he was around Keith, or when he thought about him.

So now Pidge had to take the matter in her own hands, as it seemed no one was capable of a stern talking-to when it came to Keith and his happiness. She had heard too many times a sentence that started with “Takashi-” to just keep hoping they would figure it out. Plan “Get the Idiots Together” was a go, apparently. Good thing it started with what could degenerate in a screaming match with Keith. Sure, there were healthier ways to express her feelings, but her usual methods mostly involved wrecking computer pieces she had no use for, and there was a lack of those lying around their campsite.

* * *

Keith couldn’t believe how gorgeous Takashi was. Sure, he knew his best friend had gone and become a famous actor, but up until last Saturday there had always been a disconnect between the man he saw on the big screen and plastered on advertising and the boy he had grown up with. The wall between the two sides of Takashi had started showing cracks on Saturday, and over the past three days it had disappeared. He had gotten to know Takashi even better, and he realized just how big of a mistake had been to refuse his offers of tickets to LA.

He had no clue how he would survive his last year of college, because in just three days he had gotten used to being almost constantly with Takashi. There was no way to go back to his room in the apartment he shared with Pidge, Lance and Hunk, no way to go back to seeing Takashi just through a screen, no way to be happy with their short phone calls. He had missed Takashi, but he hadn’t realized how big the hole in his life had been until he had spent a whole day with him.

And then there was the fact that he was in love with him, and had been for quite some time. Takashi didn’t know, and Keith wasn’t brave enough to confess, so they were more or less at a stalemate.

“Keith, are you with me?” asked Takashi, and Keith realized he had been lost in his thoughts for long enough that the other man had realized it.

“Yeah, I just got lost in thought for a moment.”

“And what is more interesting than the intricacies of movie pre-production?” Takashi joked, as it had been the topic he had been talking about when Keith had stopped listening. Okay, he didn’t stop listening, he got distracted by how the light refracted in Takashi’s hair, and his hands had itched for a canvas and some paint. The light of the setting sun had created a halo around Takashi, and Keith had fallen in love again.

“I was thinking how weird it will be once this is over.”

“The camping trip or our friendship? Because if it’s the latter, buddy, I’ve got news for you.”

“I already know you’re stuck for life with me. I meant that it’ll be weird to go back to phone calls and Skype videocalls.”

Until then they had been walking along the beach, but Takashi had stopped rather abruptly. His face had gotten serious, and Keith knew he had something important to tell him.

“You know how I told you I was going to take a break between my last movie and my next one?”

“Yeah, you’re shooting the superhero movie and you start in August, right?”

“Well, that’s not exactly true. I got an offer for a role in a movie that shoots near your college. It’ll be just six weeks, but it’s still six weeks more than you thought we’d have together.”

“Takashi, you can’t accept roles just because they shoot near me.”

“I didn’t accept because the set is near your college. I accepted because it has a great screenplay, it’s just six weeks, I’ll still have a few weeks free, _and_ I can see you at least on weekends. I know your timetable is crazy, but I want to be with my best friend.”

Keith sighed and rubbed a hand on his own cheek. Takashi knew what he had to say to shut him up, and that was one of the downsides of knowing each other for so long.

“I won’t complain about you doing nice things for me.” And then Keith grabbed all his courage with both hands and kissed Takashi on the cheek, maybe a smidge too close to his mouth to be completely platonic, before Lance called his name. _Worst timing ever._

* * *

There was no way in hell Hunk would win the bet, not if Lance had something to do with it, so as soon as he saw that Shiro and Keith were getting a little _too_ close, he decided to be an asshole and call Keith over with some bullshit excuse. Sure, if glares could kill Lance would be already dead, but at least his money was safe (for now) from Hunk and Pidge. His bet was that Keith and ~~Takashi~~ Shiro would get their shit together on Friday or Saturday, so he just had to run enough interference to tide him over Wednesday and Thursday. There was no way his plan could backfire. And anyways today was the last day on which Pidge had bet, so he would have to worry only about Hunk. Okay, he also had no idea what Allura was planning, but that wasn't his fault at all, so he just had to hope she didn't interfere.


	8. we're all alone now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *gently uses this chapter as a shield*  
> Hi guys! Sorry for the long wait, but real life kinda took over and this chapter was a tough one to write, because I wanted it to be perfect. Anyways, the title of this chapter comes from the song 'I Think We're Alone Now' by Tiffany (blame The Umbrella Academy for this, because I binged the first season and I need the second one like. _yesterday_ #teamklaus). As always, nothing belongs to me, and if you liked this chapter drop a comment and/or kudo!

It was nothing new that Lance could be a bit of an asshole, she just didn’t think he’d stop so low. When they had placed their bets she had foolishly forgotten to forbid any kind of interference. That, was now revealed, had been a big mistake. She had been _so_ close to winning, but, most importantly, Keith had been _this_ close to declaring his feelings for Shiro. He had kissed him on the cheek, for God’s sake!

Sure, winning the bet was important, but Keith’s happiness was way more important than some stupid bet! She had to get back at Lance, and she needed allies. Her choice in allies was non-existent, and Allura was the only one she could ask, as both Hunk and Lance were involved in the bet, and there was no way she’d tell about the bet to the interested parties. Her only hope was that Allura wanted to get back at Lance, because she had noticed the bloodthirsty smile Allura had sent Lance’s way when Keith introduced them in their kitchen. Now she just had to find a way to approach her. Easy-peasy.

* * *

There had been a moment [okay, maybe more a split second] during which he thought Keith would kiss him, and he had been so happy that he could’ve started singing like he was in a Disney movie. And then the kiss had landed on his cheek. Sure, a little too close to his mouth to be considered strictly friendly, but now the ball was in his court.

Keith had showed with a subtlety that unlike him, that he liked him, and that Shiro was the one who had to decide to pursue a romantic relationship with Keith or not. Sure, that was everything Shiro dreamed of, but the real world wasn’t far away. He and Keith needed a heart to heart talk before they could decide _together_ that a romantic relationship was the thing they both wanted.

He had been standing there for maybe thirty seconds, and Keith had already disappeared. So he wanted to play, eh? That brought a smile to Shiro’s lips. He had missed doing stuff like that with Keith. Coming on this camping trip was the best idea he ever had.

* * *

Allura would kill Lance before the week was over. She knew that he had called Keith over for some dumb reason of his, and Keith had seemed to realize that, because Lance had just started talking when Keith had disappeared into the woods behind their campsite. She also had a strong suspicion that there were bets going on, and that Lance intended to do everything he could to _win_ the said bet.

She and Pidge shared a look that said a _lot_ , mostly how both of them would take revenge on Lance. She had a tiny grudge before, but interfering with her friend’s love life in such a blatant way? Absolutely _no_.

Allura noticed that Shiro was staring into the distance like he had been enchanted. He seemed to get his shit together rather quickly though, and then he was off, going after Keith. Maybe there was still hope for the two of them.

Pidge causally plopped down next to her, and from the glint in her eyes, she suspected Pidge already had at least half of a plan to get revenge. Lance had no clue of what was waiting for him, because if she knew something about Pidge, despite knowing her less than a week, was that no one should cross her.

* * *

Keith was almost shaking from all the pent-up adrenaline that was pumping in his blood. He was almost sure he had not-so-casually given a big clue to his true feelings to Takashi, and now he had to wait to see how would he respond. Half of his brain was being an asshole, repeating that Takashi didn’t see him as a potential romantic interest, while the other half was being much more encouraging, saying that the look in Takashi’s eyes hadn’t been the look of someone uninterested.

Still walking in the woods, he decided to sit down next to a big boulder, leaning against the side that faced away from their campsite. He should have thought about that kiss a little more, because the next days would be very awkward if Takashi rejected him. Honest to God, he had no clue how he would survive sleeping in the same tent as the man who had rejected him.

His brain didn’t shut up for the next five minutes, when he heard someone that was coming in his direction. Assuming it was either Hunk or Pidge [no way in hell it was Lance, he wasn’t that kind of guy], he leaned back on the boulder and closed again his eyes just to open them when someone [who was undoubtedly _not_ Pidge or Hunk] cleared their throat.

Takashi had followed him. _Oh._ This was a surprise. He had his serious face on, and Keith knew that it didn’t mean anything good for him, or his feelings. He braced for the inevitable ‘I see you just as a friend’, but Takashi was standing there, silent, and soon he had enough of that silence, so he snapped. “What do you want?”

Takashi hadn’t been expecting the hostility, because he flinched at his words. “We need to talk,” he said, and Keith knew that nothing good ever came after those words.

“About what?” he replied, still in an aggressive tone, but less so than before.

“About us. And Keith, I sure hope I didn’t misinterpret the kiss on the beach.” Oh. Maybe there was a chance, after all.

“What about us?”

“Okay, let’s be honest here. That kiss on the cheek was uhm, not very platonic. I’m going to lay out all my feelings, so please don’t jump to conclusions and hear me until the end, okay?”

“Did I ever do that to you, Takashi?” he asked, a little hurt by the assumption that he’d jump to conclusions. Not that he didn’t jump to conclusion, but not with _Takashi._

“No, but you forget I know you well, so I know how you think. Anyways, I know we have been friends since, well, since forever, and that before this Saturday we hadn’t seen each other in person since your family moved away, but for the last few years I’ve been falling in love with you, Keith.”

Keith was confused, because he wasn’t going to jump to conclusions while the conclusion was already _laid out there._ He started to speak, but Takashi interrupted him. “You promised you’d listen ‘til the end, Keith. Anyways. When we met again on Saturday I realized that I felt something very deep for you, and that there was no way it’d be thirteen more years before we saw each other again. I want to be your partner, your boyfriend, your everything. I want to wake up next to you for the rest of my life and go to sleep with you in my arms. But- but we need to talk before diving straight into a long-distance relationship. My next movie is half an hour from your college, but we’ll be on opposite coasts for your whole senior year. My life looks a lot different in the tabloids than in reality.”

“Takashi, do you think that a relationship between us wouldn’t work just because we’re physically distant? Do you have so little faith in us? Our friendship survived something that most friendships wouldn’t have, and we came stronger out for that. I love you too, and I want to be in a relationship with you. We will have a summer together, and then it’s going to be just nine months until I can move to LA. I know I haven’t talked a lot about my projects for the future, but I probably can get into Caltech or something. We can be together. The only hurdle at the moment is, well, you.”

Takashi seemed stunned at his words. It seemed he hadn’t even considered Keith’s side of the argument, and Keith’s words had clearly shaken him up. He fell to his knees and hugged him. The hug was admittedly very nice, but he wanted something more. So, for the second time that day he gathered his courage and gently placed one of his hands on Takashi’s cheek before slowly kissing him on the mouth. It was one of the best sensations Keith ever felt, next to the first time he drove at full throttle Red down a dusty road.

When they emerged from the kiss, they both sported matching blinding smiles, and just like that, they were alright. Keith felt on the top of the world, and nothing could have brought him down.

* * *

Lance felt that something had shifted yesterday, after Keith had kissed Shiro on the cheek, but he couldn’t pinpoint what. The two of them were behaving the same as the days before, even if they were maybe a little more affectionate towards each other. His bet was safe for now, even if he didn’t like the glares Pidge had been sending him since he blew up the moment. Allura seemed still not happy with him, so he decided to continue avoiding her, as he had been doing since the first day. Hunk was in a good mood, maybe because there was a good chance he’d win the bet [ ~~but not if Lance had something to do with it, and he _did_~~ ].

He just had to avoid two of the five people with whom he was stuck in the middle of nowhere and everything would be alright.

Who he was fooling, Pidge would kill (or at least lightly maim) by evening, and he had no chances of saving himself, because if he stuck to Hunk like chewing gum he’d get killed by an exasperated Hunk, Allura was not an option (useless even saying why) and there was no way he’d stay all day with the two dumb idiots talking about people he didn’t know and things he didn’t care about. Well, it had been a nice (if short) life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YES, I KNOW THAT LANCE CALLED KEITH OVER, BUT SHIRO IS A DUMBASS THAT HAS MOSTLY NO CLUE OF WHAT'S GOING ON IF KEITH IS AROUND. Rip Lance.
> 
> I've got to be honest: I have no clue when the next chapter will be out, but I'm hoping to finish this fic before Camp NaNo comes around, so *fingers crossed*


	9. well, that didn't go as planned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sad this story is nearing to an end. This is my first multi-chaptered fic in English, and I absloutely loved writing it. Thank you guys every single comment, kudo, subscribe. Thank you.  
> As always there's nothing of mine except the plot and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter! <3

There are times Keith thinks his life is just a huge joke for the universe, and right now is _exactly_ one of those times. The whole thing had started when he had naively thought telling the others he and Takashi had decided to be in a relationship would go off without a hitch. The two of them had decided to tell the others one by one, because if they would have told everyone at the same time it would have become just a huge mess. Keith could freely admit that it was in part his fault, because blurting out ‘I’m in love with Takashi’ wasn’t exactly what he had planned to say.

Pidge had immediately jumped to conclusions and started talking over him, missing the next part, namely ‘we kissed and now we’re dating’, and there had been no way to shut her up. He had no clue why, but she thought he had just realized his feelings for Takashi. He knew he had a resting bitch face, and that he didn’t talk much about feelings with her, but seriously, he wasn’t _that_ out of touch with his feelings. His mother had always stressed that feelings were important, and his father had only backed her up.

If Pidge didn’t shut up in the next minute, he would start screaming. He should’ve gone with ‘I’m dating Takashi’ but he _didn’t_ and so now he had to suffer the consequences. Oh well, he’d tell her tomorrow, when surely she will listen to him.

* * *

It turns out Pidge had told both Lance and Hunk that Keith had finally admitted his feelings for Takashi, and that they all wanted to set the two of them up, parent trap style. Allura hadn’t been informed, but only because she was Takashi’s friend first. What a goddamn mess.

The whole thing wasn’t improved by Takashi, who was sitting right on the other side of the folding table, and who was glaringly trying not to laugh out loud. He had obviously noticed the not-so-subtle glances Pidge kept sending Keith’s way, and had ~~rightly~~ jumped to conclusions. To be fair she wasn’t the only one, because Lance was blathering on about Keith’s merits. The whole Lance thing was just plain weird, because he sucked at praising Keith, so it just sounded very much fake. Hunk, thank god, was just rolling his eyes at his best friend, while Allura seemed delighted by the turn of the events.

Takashi had told Allura everything that morning, and evidently Takashi hadn’t messed up as Keith did, so now he was sitting there, glaring at his boyfriend (man, that sounded so nice) eating lunch while trying not to kill his friends. He had to undo the damage, and quickly.

* * *

The end of their camping trip was looming, but it seemed like no one would win their damned bet. Something was up with Keith and Shiro, Pidge knew that, but she couldn’t understand _what_ exactly. Sure, Keith had finally admitted his feelings for Shiro, but the two of them had been the exact same even before that, Sure, there were a few more casual touches from Keith’s part, but that wasn’t exactly unusual.

The bet had been all but forgotten, since it seemed unlikely either of the two would confess on the last evening. Oh well, at least she had taken her revenge on Lance, with Allura’s help. A sleeping bag full of glitter had been just the start, followed by a shampoo full of food coloring to make him think she had added dye and changing his phone settings to Chinese and, later, changing all the names in his phone.

Allura had been very useful to distract Lance or make him avoid the places in which she was preparing her pranks, because the idiot was still avoiding the actress. And to think it would’ve been enough to just apologize to her to avoid all his problems.

Anyways, she had exchanged phone numbers with Allura and Shiro, and promised to keep in contact, because the whole trip had been fun and relaxing (for them, at least, because Lance and Hunk swore they’d never repeat the experience). Pidge looked at everyone around the campfire. Allura was making s’mores with Hunk, Keith and Shiro were sitting near each other and Keith was showing something to Shiro on his phone, while Lance was sitting on the other side of the campfire, alone, wrapped in a blanket, and pouting.

She had met two of the people there barely a week ago, but she felt like she had known them her whole life. Those were her friends, and she would miss them once they parted ways tomorrow. Allura and Shiro were returning to LA, and everyone else, her included, were going home over the next week. They would see each other again when college started back in September, but that was their last year together. She had already lined up a job back in her hometown, Lance would probably go off backpacking across Europe and Hunk wanted to open either a bakery or a garage.

It would be weird not to see her friends every day, and even more weird to see Shiro and Allura in movies and such. Ugh, she was such a sap, but endings always made her think about the future, and how quickly everything would change.

* * *

Their last day of the camping trip was spent mostly packing up and going to the beach for the last time. Everyone was rather silent, and she didn’t need to have superpowers to know that everyone, with the exception of Lance, was sad their time together was coming to a close. The whole thing had been fun, a kind of fun she hadn’t experienced in a long, long time.

She had helped Pidge prank Lance and forgiven him their first meeting, she had watched Pidge, Hunk and Lance trying to set up Shiro and Keith, unaware of their changed relationship, and just had a great time all-around. The week away from the paparazzi and her daily stress had done wonders for her mood, and she couldn’t wait to start shooting her next project, a movie in which she was director, producer and main actress. Shiro was returning to LA with her, but he would come back out here in less than three weeks, because his next movie was shooting less than an hour from Keith’s college (and Keith).

* * *

The summer had gone by very quickly. Their groupchat had been very animated, even if Keith hadn’t talked to them very much. (Not that he usually talked a lot, but still, it was weird). And now the new school year was approaching, and Keith had told them that he would be gone some weekends because Shiro had asked him to visit.

That didn’t sound exactly best friend stuff, but to be fair Keith and Shiro’s whole relationship was weird and just on the wrong side of the line between friendship and romance. Sure, Lance thought they would make a great couple, but he wouldn't force the two of them to confess, because he wasn’t an _asshole_ , no matter what Pidge said. (Okay, maybe Pidge was right and he shouldn’t have interfered on their camping trip, but at that moment he hadn’t been exactly thinking clearly)

Anyways, Keith had invited everyone to his parent’s house for a belated Thanksgiving, they would spend New Year’s Eve together at Pidge’s and Shiro and Allura had invited everyone out to LA next summer, after they graduated. It was going to be a great year.

The great year became a hellish year two weeks into the semester, when the professors started to demand more and more from the already overworked students, and soon enough their evenings were spent closed in their rooms writing papers or studying at the kitchen table. Even Keith, who at the start of the semester had told them he’d be gone every second weekend, had been forced to dial back on that, and would visit Shiro once a month.

Lance had also a rather big secret he kept from everyone. Last summer, on the last day of their camping trip, he had apologized to Allura, who had graciously accepted his apology and gave him her number ‘just in case’. That just in case had been quickly forgotten, and now they were sending each other dumb memes, animal pics and random messages almost constantly. It was weird to be friends with a famous actress, especially when others around him talked about her like she was an object, and he had had a hard time keeping quiet. People assumed a lot of things about her, and the gossip was vicious sometimes, and he had no idea how Keith had done it for years without saying anything. He couldn’t wait to see her again for Thanksgiving.

* * *

Keith was the happiest version of himself, and it was mostly because his boyfriend was an amazing human being and he was lucky enough to be the person he loved. Sure, their relationship was (still) a secret they kept from everyone ( ~~his friends were such dumbasses~~ ) and the press thought they were just friends, but things had never been better (even if his last year in college was kicking his ass and he had fewer opportunities to visit Takashi). The only people who knew of his relationship were his relatives: mom, dad and Romelle, and even they knew just because they knew him too well.

He had promised everyone to bring Takashi home for Thanksgiving, and Takashi had asked if Allura could come too, because she didn’t want to see her ex-fiancé at her family’s Thanksgiving party. Sure, he couldn’t wait until their small group of friends was together again, but it was going to be hard pretending he and Shiro weren’t together. Okay, maybe he had to admit that the two of them hadn’t thought it out perfectly. ~~Or at all~~. But to be perfectly honest he had thought his friends would be quicker to put two and two together. And yeah, they had put two and two together, but they got eight as a result and didn’t even notice it was the wrong result.

At least the whole debacle entertained his entire extended family, with his mom and Romelle being the ones who enjoyed it the most. Thank god he asked Shiro and Allura to come earlier than the others, otherwise he and Takashi would not have any time to spend together. [Please, God, if you’re listening, don’t let Romelle, mom, and dad interfere. Please.]


	10. where do we go from here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last "official" chapter of the story, because chapter eleven is just a short epilogue that will go up as soon as I figure out the formatting.  
> I already thanked everyone in the last chapter, but I just want to stress how much I enjoyed writing this story. When I started posting it, I had no idea it would have been like this. Every comment, every kudo, every bookmark, every subscription means the world to me. Thank you.  
> And as always nothing belongs to me, and I hope you'll enjoy the dorks that come to say hi in this chapter.

Keith has many regrets, but his greatest regret yet is that he didn’t have his phone nearby when his friends caught him while he was making out with Takashi. Okay, at the time he was otherwise occupied and he had no clue they would surprise him by coming by a day early, but still. The whole thing had been hilarious, though.

After a summer and autumn filled with subtle and not-so-subtle hints from his friends that he was in love with Takashi, Thanksgiving break was exactly what needed to happen. And maybe Keith was a little bitter that Pidge was so blind, because sure, he expected that Lance and Keith wouldn’t notice, but he sure as hell expected more from his genius friend, but he was very glad he hadn’t spilled the beans and that Takashi and Allura hadn’t told the others anything.

The whole thing had gone down in just half an hour. By 10 am Takashi and Allura had arrived and met (again, in Takashi’s case) his parents, fifteen minutes later he and Takashi were sitting on his bed while Allura was talking with Romelle, and at 10:31 am Lance, Pidge and Hunk were slamming open the door, clearly not expecting Takashi to be there.

Their reactions had been varied, but it was clear they were all surprised, because somehow they had missed the rented car parked in front of his parent’s house, Allura talking with Romelle in the kitchen and the suitcases near the front door.

The first one to regain his wits was Lance, who immediately blurted out a series of questions that Keith had absolutely no chance of answering before the other two started talking over Lance. Takashi, despite being a famous actor, went beet red, and hid his face in Keith’s shoulder, while Keith decided to just wait until his friends calmed down.

“WHAT THE HELL, KEITH?”

“When did the two of you started dating?”

“I’m so glad for you two!”

Allura, Romelle and his parents, drawn by the confusion, came upstairs to check if everything was alright, while Kosmo started barking, because if everyone was noisy, he felt he was allowed to be noisy too. (Lance was still the noisiest one of them all, though).

And then his mom, bless her, decided she had enough and whistled so loud, everyone had to cover their ears. The only one dumb enough to start talking again was Lance, but he thankfully shut up when Pidge, another smart woman, stomped on his foot. He loved his mom and Pidge _so, so_ much.

Soon enough things were going back to normal, with his parents going back to whatever they were doing before his friends decided that starting a shouting match in his room was a wise decision. Romelle and Allura were giggling behind the three college students, because the two of them knew exactly what had happened: Keith and Takashi had been caught while making out, because the two of them were, well, they were very into PDA when together.

* * *

To be honest Allura had no clue how Shiro and Keith had not been discovered before, either by the media or by Keith’s nosy friends, because they liked to make out. Often. Sure, she was glad the two of them were dating, but she didn’t need to see Shiro sucking face with Keith, because it just reminded her that she was single.

(True, she was single by choice, but her and Lotor’s breakup was a painful and still raw wound.) Lance was a different person in real life, because while texting and chatting online she sometimes forgot that Lance could blurt things out, and that sometimes he just talked and talked without coming up to breathe. But now, while watching Lance just rattling on, with the gist being that Keith and Shiro betrayed them by not telling they were dating, she felt a surge of unexpected fondness for the man. (Boy? Man-child?) Sure, he still had a lot of growing up to do, but she couldn’t wait to meet the man that would become.

Years before, during her darkest days, when Shiro still hadn’t come into her life, when all she had was Lotor (now, looking back, she could admit that their relationship hadn’t been exactly the healthiest), she didn’t believe anything would change. And then Shiro, the beautiful man, had come into her life, she and Lotor had broken up, and her life had turned around and had led her to this exact moment.

While Lance was still squawking she high-fived Romelle, because their plan had worked perfectly. (When Pidge had introduced the two of them, she had no clue they’d gang up on Keith and Shiro to _finally_ stop hiding their relationship from Keith’s friends). A well-timed phone call and Lance had (somehow) decided that surprising Keith and having an intervention for him was the best way to go. Truly, the best plans were ones that people thought they came up with alone.

* * *

Lance wanted to either kill or hug Keith. There was no way around it: the fact that Keith and Shiro were already dating ruined all of Lance’s plans, but now at least he understood why their setups during the summer weren’t successful: _they were already dating_. Still, that meant the bet they made before their camping trip wasn’t invalid (and if the way Pidge was grinning meant something, they got their shit together on one of the days she bet on) and that the stuff in the trunk of his car was useless. Unless-

Allura was laughing at him and his friends (did that mean she knew?), and Hunk was glancing at him, and when Pidge blurted out “But all the stuff we bought for the intervention?” he groaned. Because apparently life liked to kick him when he was down, and so he put up a token resistance, but everything was getting used, just not on the originary recipients.

The whole thing was an embarrassing loud affair covered in glitter. but Lance knew everyone was happy. Keith and Shiro were sitting on the couch, eating the ‘you’re in love with Shiro’ cake they had ordered especially for Keith, Romelle and Hunk were arguing about food in the kitchen, Pidge was playing with Kosmo on the floor near the couch, and Keith’s parents had disappeared a few hours prior, mentioning some urgent business with one of Keith’s uncles. Allura was still grinning and she hadn’t stopped since they had discovered Keith and Shiro making out. Oh, and she was walking towards him.

He still couldn’t believe that he _knew_ Allura D’Altea, actress extraordinaire, and someone who he was comfortable enough with to meme with. If a year before someone had told him what would happen in the next year, he wouldn’t have believed him. The loner Pidge had brought home became his good friend, he had met two celebrities and was on a first-name basis with them, and his crush on Allura had grown exponentially.

As soon as Allura came over, she offered him one of the two glasses full of Hunk’s Premium Punch and sat on the beanbag next to his, the one he had dragged from Keith’s room and the one Romelle had dragged down.

“You knew, didn’t you?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

“Yeah. I won’t lie, it was pretty funny watching you, Pidge and Hunk flail around trying to get them together.” she answered, chuckling into her own glass.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” he said, not sure if he really wanted to hear the answer.

“As far as I know, Keith tried to tell Pidge, but it was misinterpreted and well, Shiro says Keith wanted to know how long it would take the three of you to figure it out.”

Ouch. That was brutal. But he was manly enough that he could admit she was right and it sounded exactly like something Keith would do to fuck with them.

“I envy them, you know? Childhood friends turned sweethearts.” said Allura, sounding more bitter than he’d ever heard. “My childhood sweetheart won’t talk to me because he and his father think my father killed Honerva Zarkonsson. One day I thought we were doing great and the next we were over.”

“I know it sounds very cliché, but you’ll find a better person. He didn’t deserve you.” he told Allura, without his usual bullshit. “And in the meantime you have Shiro, and, if you want us.” and gestured towards to everyone. His friends were great, and he was happy Allura had them as her friends.

With a smile, Allura gave him a peck on the cheek and said “Thank you Lance.” before she stood up and started walking towards the kitchen. While watching her do it, he caught Keith’s looks in their direction and saw Keith slowly mouth ‘ _you’re the next_ ’ in his direction. He had no idea what he was next for, but if it meant having a girlfriend of his own, then he was more than happy to comply with his friends’ wishes.


	11. this is as close as it gets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this story. Y'all are the MVPs.

theforceisscreaming 

> So, I don’t talk much about real life here, but as most of you know, Shiro the Hero has been a huge inspiration for me, because seeing someone explicitly gay in roles that cast only cis-white men gave me the strength to pursue a career I love and to come out to my family.
> 
> Anyways, this past weekend I was a guest lecturer at Caltech, and somehow I met Shiro’s fiancé. From what I gathered from our conversation, he’s a great person. I thought the whole thing would end there, but towards the end of our conversation someone entered Kogane’s office and I almost got a heart attack when I realized it was Shiro. Anyways, Kogane understood immediately I was a fan even if I was trying to hide it, and now I have pictures with Shiro and his autograph. Best. Day. Ever.
> 
> #shiro the hero  #human sunshine #personal
> 
> 258 notes

 

 

alluraqueenoftheuniverse 

> [gifset of Allura and Lance together]
> 
> make me choose: **allurance** ~~or sheith~~
> 
> #are u joking  #here we stan one dorky couple  #allura d’altea #lance serrano #gifset  #my gifs
> 
> 1,669 notes

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this fic, I'd enjoy to hear from you! Kudos and comments are great!  
> Come scream at me on [tumblr](starlightvelaris.tumblr.com) and [pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.io/starlightvelaris)!


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